A Question//A Conversation

WE HAVE ALL THESE OUTLETS FOR ENGAGEMENT, BUT ARE WE REALLY CONNECTING?

A co-worker of mine messaged me last night. I received the message a few moments ago. This is what they said, “I’ve been researching “outsider art” in the hope of inspiration and all I see is crap and naiveity. Is it weird that I can only see landscape and portrait painting as the only two genres worthy of being seen. And I find landscapes utterly boring as it’s mostly what I do.”

My response was this, “Well, you’re bored with it because you’re not inspired by your own art. When’s the last time you engaged real life landscape? Played with the elements per-say? Really enjoyed just being in nature?

If you want to do, and do it right, you have to interact with your subject and bring it to life as it has brought you to life.

I have an assignment for you: go up to Pigeon River Park around 7:30AM one morning, leave your shoes in the car and prance through the wild overgrowth. There’s mud, feel it between your toes. Really. Really just move around in it. Find one of the cubby holes and fisherman’s paths and escort your eyes to a spot next to the river and ponder life, walk up a hill to a grassy knoll and wonder which way is out, enter the woods and sit in front of the cheshire cat looking tree and ask it which way to go -because, really he’s right, that if you don’t know where you’re going, any road’ll do, try to find out if there’s a secret path to the lake and end up traipsing through swamp waters.

Don’t look at pictures of other people’s ideas of landscape, really ENGAGE with the land.